ATRX, 2014 -

This project follows my special needs brother, Alex, and his life as it has been affected by Alpha Thalassemia Mental Retardation Syndrome. A parallel between mental illness and the photographic process is the amount of information that is unknown from the viewer to what is going on internally.

Because of his disability, my relationship with my only sibling has always been a strained one. Through image making, I have been rectifying our relationship as we collaborate making photographs. The images show not only him as a human being in the flesh, but illustrate an inside view of being a person with mental disabilities. Photographing him has shed new light on his daily routines, child-like behaviors, his interests, his continuous emulation of our father, and his transition into manhood.